"England is for us
surely a garden of delights" said Pope Innocent IV,
according to the English chronicler, Matthew Paris, when
in 1246 he saw some splendid gold-embroidered vestments
worn by English priests in Rome.

England was indeed a garden of delights when it came to
the production of embroidered ecclesiastical vestments.
That these were in great demand all over Europe is
attested to by the Vatican inventory of 1295 which listed
more pieces of English embroidery, or Opus Anglicanum,
than from any other country. Even though by c. 1350 the
period of magnificient work had passed and English
embroidery had suffered a decline, very high quality
vestments were still being produced in England.

In the Textilemuseum at St. Gallen is a splendid example
of an English embroidered cope from the latter part of
the Middle-ages. Dating from c.1500, the St. Gallen cope
shows several motifs, embroidered in silver-gilt and
coloured silks, applied to a rich purple velvet
background. Although the hool and orphreys are lacking
and some of the motifs have been restored (in different
coloured silk) the condition of the vestmetn is generally
good.

A cope is a liturgical
vestment worn for processions. When worn it gives the
appearance of a cloak, but when opened out it forms a
semi-circle. The most important scenes iconographically
were always placed in the centre back of the vestment.
The orphrey (lacking on the St. Gallen cope) was a band
of decoration running down the fronts of the cope and
across the back of the neck. In the period of Opus
Anglicanum we find series of saints, angels or
decorative ornament on cope orphreys, but in the later
period often narrative scenes, for example, the Passion
of Christ, saints' lives or the Tree of Jesse are seen.
Doubtless this was to complement the smaller amount of
Christological or Mariological scenes on the main part of
the vestment.

The main iconographical theme of the St. Gallen cope is
that of the Virgin Mary's part in Christ's sacrifice for
the Redemption of Mankind's original sin, and is summed
up by the scene placed in the centre back of the vestment
which shows the Assuption of the Virgin. This was the
most popular scene to appear on copes of this date,
although other scenes do appear such as the Crucifixion,
the Annunciation to the Virgin and, occasionally, a
rebus. At St.Gallen she is depicted, surrounded by a
mandorla, being borne aloft by five demi-angels who rise
from clouds.

The motifs, which powder the
field of the cope, are three types of conventional
flowers, fleur-de-lys and angels. The overall design is
similar to that of other English copes of this date; for
example, that from Norrköping, now in Stockholm, that at
Oscott College, and another in the Victoria and Albert
Museum in London.

The conventional flowers are so stylized that they do not
resemble any known flora but, they can be seen to have
Christian allegoral interpretations. It is likely that
the scattering of the flowers over the cope may represent
the flos campi, the flowers of the field, from the Old
Testament book of the 'Song of Songs', chapter 2 verse 1.
The fleur-de lys may be stylized representations of the
lilium convallium, the lilies of the vallies, and as such
may be taken together with the flowers of the field and
thus would allude to the Virgin. The 'Song of Songs'
contains many verses which, in the medieval period, were
seen to allude to Mary. However, often the flos was taken
to represent Christ, and could, therefore, here refer to
the part played by the Virgin in the Incarnation, and so
in the ultimate sacrifice of Christ for the Redemption of
Mankind.

The fleur-de-lys, the stylized lily, is an attribute of
the Virgin. Often dhe device was used as a royal emblem,
for example, by the kings of France, and also as a symbol
of sovereignity on the sceptres of kings; on the St.
Gallen cope it can be seen to refer to the Virgin as
Queen of Heaven.

The angels which appear on
the cope continue a tradition which was seen on the
vestments of the great period of Opus Anglicanum, where
angels of various kinds proliferated - angels with
thuribles, crowns, stars and musical instruments,
cherubim and seraphim standing on wheels and others.
Apart from the five demi-angels bearing Mary to Heaven,
twelve demi-angels are depicted on th St. Gallen cope,
all emanating from clouds and surrounded by rays of
light. Those angels closest to mary - the three on either
side and two below all have four wings. Of those to the
side and the lowest one are in the orans attitude (the
early Christian stance of prayer with arms outstretched),
whilst that immediately below the Assumption scene holds
a crown of thorns, a symbol of the Passion and another
reference to Christ's Sacrifice.

The four angels placed outside the central group have
each two wings and hold a scroll with the inscription
"DA GLORIAM DE0", give Glory to God. Angels,
the messengers of God, formed part of the Heavenly Host
and as seen here extent the idea of the Assumption of the
Virgin into Heaven by placing her in the midst of the
angelic host. On the overall design of the cope the
earthly flowers of the filed are in the outer parts,
whilst the heavenly aspect is in the centre.

In Christian number
symbolism twelve was seen to represent the Twelve
Apostles, the twelve tribes of Israel, or, in a more
extended meaning, the whole of the Christian church. Here
they may well represent the whole of the Christian church
which was to be saved by the Redemption.

In the central scene Mary's body is being carried into
Paradise; she is shown crowned as Queen of Heaven, for
which there is no actual Canonical or Apocryphal Gospel
source. According to Emile Male it seems likely that the
idea of Mary as Queen of Heaven comes from the 12th
century 'Golden Legend' of Jacobus de Voragine where, in
the account of the Assupmption, there is the sentance
"Come from Lebanon, my spouse, come thou shalt be
crowned" said to have been intoned by Christ. We
also have the words of Psalm 45 verse 10 "Astitit
regina a dextris tuis in vestitu deaurato" (upon thy
right hand did stand the queen in vesture of gold).

The source for the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is told
in various Apocryphal accounts, but that of the
'Pseudo-Melito' is the most detailed and the best known.
The text tells us that after she had died Mary's body
shone with such brightness that the appearance could not
be looked upon for the

exceeding flashing of light.
This is indicated on the cope not only by the gold
mandorla surrounding the body, but also the rays and
spangles emanating from it. Further on the account says
that Christ delivered her to the angels to be borne into
Paradise - again depicted on the vestment. Mary is
clothed in gold and blue and, altough crowned as Queen of
Heaven, she still wears her hair loose as a symbol of her
perpetual virginity.

Although the central scene on the St. Gallen cope shows
the Assumption of the Virgin, the overall theme of the
vestment is that of the Sacrifice of Christ for the
Redemption of Mankind - alluded to by the Crown of thorns
and the "flowers of the field". Mara's part in
the Incarnation - the word of God made flesh, the
beginning of Christ's life on earth which was to end in
the Crucifixion, the Ultimate Sacrifice - is here
strongly emphasized by the depiction of one of the most
popular scenes of the later Middle-Ages, illustrating the
most siginifcant of the legendry events of her life.

The idea of the main theme of an English embroidered
vestment representing the Sacrifice of the Redemption of
Mankind continues a tradition seen in the iconography of
such vestments from the third quarter of the 13th century
onwards.

As mentioned above, in the
Middle-Ages, England was famous for its production of
high quality embroidery, for both secular and
ecclesiastical use, although it is mainly the latter
which has survived. Known as Opus anglicanum, this
embroidery reached its apogee c. 1250 - c. 1350 when
kings, emperors and popes were its patrons.

Indeed, the production of fine embroidery was known in
England before the Norman conquest - the 'Stole and
Maniple of St. Cuthbert', of the 12th century, preserved
at Durham cathedral testify to this. From the great
period of Opus Anglicanum survive such fine copes as
those in the Vatican and at Ascoli Piceno - probably both
Papal commissions - those in Vich (in Catalonia), Pienza,
and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, this last
once belonging to the Butler Bowden family.

It is noticeable that more of these vestments survived in
Catholic Europe rather than in Protestant England;
doubtless a large number of vestments were destroyed at
the Reformation and indeed, during times of strife when
the vestments would be burnt to reclaim the gold which
was used in abundance.

The vestments from c. 1250 -
c. 1350 differed from those of the later period (c. 1350
- c. 1530) in style and iconography. It was usual for the
earlier vestments to be covered with scenes showing
events in the life of Christ, of the Virgin or of the
saints. However, by c. 1350 when the Black Death had
causend great loss of life in Europe the high quality of
embroidery and the totally individual design of the
vestments declined and finally disappeared. Thus by c.
1500 - the date of the St. Gallen cope - the highly
individual vestments were replaced with those showing
little variety of applied embroidered motifs against a
plain of brocade background. However, some individual
vestments still showed work of high quality as can be
seen in the St. Gallen cope.